1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the handling of data in multidimensional computer databases. More particularly, the invention uses on-line analytical processing (OLAP) and other techniques to manage, aggregate and report data in a multidimensional database. The invention is especially useful for effectively handling numerous accounts in a large database maintained by a multinational corporation or other organization.
2. Background of Database Technology and OLAP
On-line analytical processing (OLAP) is an application architecture, type or style of business intelligence computing that can support analytical applications, such as to help end users identify important business trends. OLAP is not data-warehouse technology or a database management system (DBMS).
There has been some confusion and misunderstanding about OLAP. In fact, in 1995 a group called the OLAP Council was formed in order to serve as advocacy group and an industry guide in order to educate the market about OLAP technology and provide common definitions, among other things. The OLAP Council issued certain xe2x80x9ctenets,xe2x80x9d including the following: (1) The need of end users to analyze corporate data for the purpose of making better decisions is of paramount importance; (2) OLAP technologies are essential to delivering this end-user value and are a critical component of a broader information technology architecture; (3) Corporate data needs to be transformed into multidimensional aggregations supporting enterprise-scale data volumes and hierarchies; (4) Fast, consistent response to end-user requests is critical to interactive, ad-hoc exploration, comparison and analysis of data, regardless of database size and complexity; and (5) End users must be able to manipulate and derive data for analysis purposes by applying analytical operations such as ratios, cumulative totals, trends and allocations across dimensions and across hierarchical levels.
OLAP provides a number of key benefits that enable business professionals to make more efficient managerial and strategic decisions. Business workers who require access to large amounts of data in order to make their business decisions are able to use OLAP systems to flexibly manipulate data quickly and effectively, thus enhancing their analytical ability. In particular, OLAP allows the user to support complex analysis requirements, analyze data from a number of different perspectives (business dimensions), and support complex analyses against large input (atomic-level) data sets.
For further discussions of multidimensional database systems, OLAP and related concepts and technologies, see the glossary of terms appended to this application, and see:
Gartner Group: //www.gartnergroup.com
Pilot Software: //www.pilotsw.com/olap/olap.htm
OLAP: The Panacea for the Ills of Management Information Systems?
//www/sgroves.demon.co.uk/justolap.html
OLAP reference sites: //www.pvv.ntnu.no/xcx9cakselh/olap.htm
OLAP Report: //www.olapreport.com
The OLAP Council: //www.olapcouncil.org
See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,943,668; 5,642,524; 5,669,008; 5,794,059; 5,706,495; 5,799,300; 5,819,258; 5,815,155; 572,644; 5,832,182; 5,280,547; and 5,822,751.
A method, system and article of manufacture are provided which enhance the ability to aggregate, analyze and report data stored in a multidimensional database. The database consists of a hierarchy of data items, each item representing an account. Each account may hold either numerical data (figures) or multimedia content. The invention is particularly useful in assisting financial controllers of multinational corporations or other organizations in gathering data, analyzing data and generating reports. The invention complies with existing on-line analytical processing (OLAP) standards, and improves upon conventional OLAP methods, software and systems. The invention includes a self-contained data model allowing shared language among finance officers across the organization or group. The invention further provides a full-featured database, and organizes data in the form of a multidimensional matrix of up to 32 dimensions. The present invention includes some-innovative new features, such as: incubescent data structure, joint dimensions, delegation using xe2x80x9cdatareqs,xe2x80x9d cycle preservation, enrichment and instant consolidation. Navigation and communication tools are also included.